Not wearing lifejackets still the leading cause of boating deaths

Monday, 22 October 2018

Police search for Hamish Duncan at Lake Coleridge in 2015. He succumbed to fatigue after falling out of his kayak while not wearing a life jacket.

Hamish Duncan fought against two metre waves in Lake Coleridge for 40 minutes before fatigue overcame him and he drowned. His body has never been found.

The 20-year-old Private, who was training as a medic at Burnham Military Camp, had gone kayaking on the Canterbury lake on April 4, 2015.

Rules on whether lifejackets must be worn vary from region to region, but boats less than 6 metres long must carry them under national maritime rules.

There were dangerous conditions on the lake due to a strong northwesterly and Duncan was not wearing a lifejacket when he fell out of the kayak. He drowned just before the rescue helicopter arrived.

Coroner Marcus Elliot said recreational boaters should always wear a lifejacket, and Duncan's death illustrated the importance of assessing weather and water conditions and staying out of the water when it was too dangerous.

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A new report shows incidents like the one which claimed Duncan's life are all too common in New Zealand.

The report, from the Office of the Chief Coroner, found failing to wear a lifejacket is the leading cause of recreational boating deaths in New Zealand – deaths which could be prevented.

Labour weekend is considered the start of the season for recreational boaties.

Maritime NZ estimates almost 1.5 million Kiwis are involved in recreational boating, which includes boats, kayaks, jet skis, and stand up paddleboards.

Of the boating deaths from 2015-16, 38 per cent of those who died were not wearing a lifejacket. Men made up about 86 per cent of the deaths, despite only 54 per cent of recreational boaters being men.

Maritime NZ deputy director Sharyn Forsyth said up to two-thirds of recreational boaties who died might have been saved if they wore lifejackets.

There were no excuses for not wearing one at all times these days, especially for boats under 6 metres long, Forsyth said.

Good lifejackets cost as little as $70 dollars and people needed to think about the families they were going home to after their trip. Accidents could happen quickly and lifejackets were hard to put on once people were in the water, she said.

Lyttelton harbour was busy with boats for Labour weekend.

The Safer Boating Forum commissioned research into boating from 2017-18. It identified four key risk factors - failure to wear lifejackets, lack of communication, not checking the weather and drinking alcohol.

Gary Manch, a navigation safety officer at the Canterbury Harbourmasters Office, said Labour Weekend was typically the 'first big splash in the water' of the season for boaties.

Maritime Rule 91 required lifejackets to be carried on all recreational craft, but whether they had to be worn at all times depended on the regional bylaws.

In Canterbury, everyone on board any vessel less than 6m long must wear a lifejacket at all times, he said.

'We have reasonably high wearing rates, so clearly the fact that people are wearing them reduces the risk to people of drowning.'

Councils could hand out fines up to $300 dollars to people not following the rules, depending on the region.

Manch said boaties need to check the weather for the whole day and not just the next half hour as there was 'no point going out in your 5 metre tinnie … and then you find you're in a howling southerly and you can't get back'.

Boaties should ensure they had two forms of waterproof communication and they needed to make sure they would have signal in the area they were in, Manch said.

The report gave examples of past deaths which highlighted the key issues.

Werahikoterernga Kenneth Katene drowned while whitebaiting in a dinghy on the Oreti River near Invercargill on November 8, 2014.

Coroner's findings said Katene was standing to adjust his net when the dinghy overturned. Katene was wearing heavy clothes and no lifejacket, despite one being available to him and his family urging him to wear it.

In his written findings, coroner David Crerar said Katene not wearing a lifejacket was a significant contributor to his death.

'The [Maritime NZ] report provides information that the lifejacket in the dinghy was fit for purpose and I find that, if this had been worn, there was a significantly greater chance of Kenneth Katene either being able to self-rescue and regain the shore…or remain afloat until other river users were able to give him assistance.'

The death of Dhirendra Singh followed a similar predicament.

On May 24, 2015, Singh was in a dinghy that capsized on the Waikato River. Singh and his friends went out on the river and all were wearing lifejackets except Singh.

The Auckland father of four said to his friends that wearing a lifejacket interfered with his ability to steer the dinghy and if he needed to he would put one on.

The dinghy exited an inlet and travelled into the main river, large waves caused the dingy to turn sideways and capsize. Singh had no time to get a lifejacket. Emergency services could not revive him.

Chief coroner Judge Deborah Marshall said Singh's death was a 'sad reminder' of the tragic consequences of failing to wear a lifejacket.